Compagnie Générale Transatlantique's British subsidiary, the Red Funnel Shipping Co, bought Grantala in 1915, and renamed her Figuig in 1917.

Grantala was the sister ship of Yongala, which was lost with all hands off the Queensland coast in 1911, and is now a notable wreck diving site.

She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine built by the Wallsend Slipway Company.

[7] She continued via Adelaide[8] and Melbourne,[9] and reached Sydney on 10 March,[10] carrying about 200 passengers from England and South Africa.

For part of the year she ran between Melbourne and Cooktown, Queensland, and the for remainder she worked her original route between Sydney and Fremantle.

[17] On 30 August Grantala left Sydney to support the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landing at Rabaul in German New Guinea.

It should not be confused with the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Co Ltd, which trades as "Red Funnel".

Grantala left Sydney on 4 December 1915, sailed via Fremantle and Cape Town, and reached Naples in Italy on 25 February 1916.